JOSH ROBERTS AND THE HINGES
December 14, 2007
5 Points Pub
Columbia, SC
JOSH ROBERTS AND THE HINGES is:
Josh Roberts: lead guitar, vocals
Chris Shirah: drums
Corey Stephens: bass, vocals
Leslie Branham: acoustic guitar, vocals
Robert Walker: rhythm guitar
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ALAN MOON - Producer, Recording and Mixing Engineer
Recorded live to ProTools. No overdubs, auto-tuning, drum-replacement or other has been performed. Mixed in the box ONLY with FULLY-LICENSED plug-ins from McDSP, Waves, and Digidesign.
depthchargeaudio@gmail.com
Files are MPEG 1 Layer 3 (MP3) at 192kBps made directly from ProTools with Digidesign MP3 tool.
Uploaded: December 25, 2007
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This recording documents the first half of a very fun and special show that was multi-track recorded and then mixed by Producer/Engineer, Alan Moon.
TRACK LISTING:
01: Intro
02: Every Brick Of Downtown
03: Buzzard
04: It’s Never Enough
05: B&1B
06: Stone Cold Crazy (and the string episode)
07: Slowly, 16 Months
08: If It Ain’t One Thing, It’s My Lover
09: Nautilus
10: Why I Never Killed
11 The Hand Of Man (guitar solo by Charles Funk)
Where to begin with this show? What a good time this was! My memory is a little fuzzy on all of this since I was operating on two poorly portioned slivers of sleep consisting of an hour and a half each. So, the only R.E.M. sleep I would have had all day would have been to put an R.E.M., the band, CD into the player and hope to get some shuteye. Thankfully, this recording gives me memory and refreshes the moment by moment for me. BUT! What I DO clearly remember is a thoroughly JUICED crowd that was ready for whatever came their way that night.
SKI CLUB, a band from Atlanta, filled in for the scheduled opener PONDEROSA. Kalen, the singer/guitarist from Ponderosa had been admitted to the hospital with a cluster of horrible migraine headaches and thusly was unable to perform. Kristofer Sampson, who is also in Ponderosa, is also in Ski Club who just happened to have performed at Headliners in Columbia, the night before. So luckily they were able to jump right into the slot for what was to be only their 5th performance EVER. To witness them onstage, you'd never have known that. They were GREAT and the crowd, though expecting dirty rock n' roll and not a "pop" band, ate it up.
The familiar strummed acoustic guitar chords of "Every Brick Of Downtown" began to lilt above the din of chit-chat. The wandering ears in the crowd quickly processed the strums and the cheers begin in short order. The band makes no hurried or rushed moves to get into the thick of it...
Frankly, this recording is a great testament to the ground that this band has covered over the last year. A lot of introspection has taken place from member to member regarding the sonic space their particular instrument fills. 2007 has been a year in which we have seen a new album: MY WAR CRY IS AMOR, and finally a stable lineup for over a year after a long period of frequent personnel changes as Josh sought to assemble the right team since 2005's THE SUGARBIRD TEST. A lot of ground has been gained in solidifying a rabid fan-base while also experimenting with the crowds and what they respond to. Nevertheless, having been "the intrepid observer" throughout this time, I will say that it's never been a question of how to go to the audience but rather just how to wrap arms around them and draw them into who and what the band is. And just what the band is... is GOOD!
While the recording is what I consider to be of pretty darn good quality, if I may say so myself, the night was not without a couple of technical snafus. I left the recording intact so as to understand what happened. During the band’s surprise cover of Stone Cold Crazy (by Queen) Josh broke a string at about 1 minute 40 seconds. Thankfully as Josh takes a couple of minutes to charge up his Les Paul (which was his main guitar during the Captain Easy days), Leslie suddenly became a newscaster who kept us abreast of all the goings on – replete with expert commentary. Thankfully, as well, both guitarists Les Hall (Crossfade, Trey Anastasio, Howie Day) and Charles Funk (The South) were off to the side of the stage and were ready, willing, and able to assist in getting Josh’s Telecaster restrung. The only reason I get thanked by Josh is that when they went wind the new string on, Charles and Les both were suddenly shocked to find that Josh’s machine heads require a special technique not commonly found on guitars. Thankfully, it is something common among basses and I just happened to be there to measure and cut the string to fit. Les must have been quite the sight as he burst out the side door into the cold with Josh’s Tele and proceeded to tune it by ear out in the street before getting it up on stage to Josh in time for “If It Ain’t One Thing, It’s My Lover”.
Another thing that was sort of a technical snafu occurred during “Nautilus”. Usually, the vocals are just Josh and Leslie. However, this night was special since we had the surprise early arrival of birthday-girl “Hawt Plate” (Amy Deaderick) from Los Angeles that night and “H-Bomb” (Nicole Hagenmeyer) had gotten to The 5 Points Pub just in time to join “Leslie The Great” and Amy onstage to reform “The Cranial Accessories”, Josh’s name for the vocal group which adorns songs on MY WAR CRY IS AMOR. Unfortunately, this was a very, very surprise arrangement and thusly, no additional microphones were onstage. So, in order to gather around Leslie’s mic, they were back further than normal and thusly had a harder time balancing and harmonizing. The recording doesn’t really pick them up since the vocal mics become room-mics for the drums and crowd when a vocalist isn’t closed on the mic. So, it sounds like much ado about nothing when in fact it was special to have the three of them together with us that night.
But there were many wonderful surprises which did work out this particular night – such as during “The Hand Of Man” when Josh began playing the solo and suddenly stopped, walked over to Charles Funk, and just handed him the guitar and gestured him toward the stage. Charles walked with Josh’s Tele into the crowd’s applause and cheers and began to meekly say, “He just handed it to me, I don’t know what I’m gonna play” and then just tore into it.
Josh pretty much sums it up at the end of this recording by saying in his inimitable style, “Awright. Well, this is just a good party, man… I’m telling ya’…” And it was. As the night progressed, The Hinges just tore it up some more with old and new favorites such as Prehistoric Marrow, The Jowled Hundred, A Living Thing, a barn burning “Janey” (which included an impromptu first time and never rehearsed “Running Down A Dream”), and more.
Les Hall was eventually brought onto the stage during the Chicago favorite, "25 Or 6 To 4" along with the fantastic bassist Hesham (I hope this is spelled correctly!). Many a picture exists of Les playing off loads of amplifier derived feedback while cooly employing his classy showmanship. The crowd just went nuts for him and what was, as I remember to be, a rather "outside" but energetic improvisation.
The rest of the show doesn’t exist. It’s lost to the ether. This was the final technical snafu of the evening; one which has made a pit down deep in my heart that shall never be filled. Regardless, we have this much of the show and there is much more to come in the future from ol' JOSH ROBERTS AND THE HINGES. So, stay tuned.
Merry Christmas, et al
Alan Moon – December 25, 2007
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